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I had a 14 year old pupil ask me 'what do the little elephants under the bass notes mean?'

Baffled, I asked her to point to what she was talking about. This turned out to be the pedal marking 'Ped' which was in the lovely curly italics, this apparantly made it look like little elephants to her!

. I just came across this thread and having the time of my life reading all of these funny stories! I nearly lost it when I read the explanation of what an accidental is. I'm an adult student, and I guess I'm going to need to brush up on my music theory again!

Thanks for sharing these wonderful stories. I'll be back for more enjoyment here!

I was once teaching my student melodic seconds. When I asked "does this second move up or down?", he thought about it very carefully and after a moment, loudly announced "Yes." I thought my husband and son sitting in the nearby dining room and overhearing my lesson were going to fall off their chairs. So funny.

I have a few stories backwords: Recently I started teaching a student in my home. There isn't a piano studio anywhere in the home, so the grand piano is sitting in my living room more or less.

So when my student, and her father, is here my kids are roaming the house. You need to remember that my wife (and their mother of course) is not here in Greece at the moment, so there's a lady coming in to help, and she's keeping the kids more or less...

More or less is pretty accurate though, since the kids do decide to offer their insight on my students playing, walking on her back and some times going on like "Dad, will you be done soon?". Thankfully student and father are both VERY understanding and think that this is funny...

Student: We were doing a Highland dance show, and my friend's skirt fell down, and she had to just keep dancing. She was wearing tights, so it was OK. Her tights were purple with spots, and you could *just* see her pants through them.

lol.... The confusion of international communications!I had to think about what you had to look up.I bet you've got Tide where you are too, but it has a different name.

_________________________XVIII-XXXVIIFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

First I thought it was So Tide. Anyway, the meaning is clear 'We bring fresh laundry to you and your kin.'

Incidentally, my friend, with young children, commented that this was her kids' favourite song. Why? Because they got to ask for figgy pudding without saying "please" (which, as we all know, is very rude), and they also got to say 'we won't go!' without getting into trouble.

I was teaching, "We wish you a Merry Christmas" to a seven year old boy today. I asked him what the words "good tidings" meant. He eagerly answered, "I know it. It means cleaning, like clothes."

So Tide has another happy customer in his mother.

Or he has seen advertisements on TV. My son used to give me advice at that age, suggesting a product he'd seen on TV. He was the helpful problem solver sharing his expertise gained from commercials: "You should put Febreze on that." etc. LOL!

currawong
6000 Post Club Member
Registered: 05/15/07
Posts: 6058
Loc: Down Under

Originally Posted By: katemck

I had a 14 year old pupil ask me 'what do the little elephants under the bass notes mean?'

Baffled, I asked her to point to what she was talking about. This turned out to be the pedal marking 'Ped' which was in the lovely curly italics, this apparantly made it look like little elephants to her!

Unfortunelty, that's all I see now when I look at it!

My son always thought they looked like sheep. And that's all I see now ...

Not a piano student, but I had a little girl (probably 6 or 7) taking guitar lessons years ago. She still hadn't mastered getting a nice sustained sound yet, but none the less was making decent progress. One day after playing through some song (I don't remember what) she proclaimed that it sounded like Bach.I was quite shocked at this! "It sounds like Bach?" I asked. "Yes it really does!" she replied."Hmmm what makes you say that? What is it that makes it sound like Bach?""Just the sound.....like a chicken...bock bock bock"